Archive for May, 2010

TORONTO (Reuters) – Pressured by an aging population and the need to rein in budget deficits, Canada provinces are taking tough measures to curb healthcare costs, a trend that could erode the principles of the popular state-funded system.

Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, kicked off a fierce battle with drug companies and pharmacies when it said earlier this year it would halve generic drug prices and eliminate “incentive fees” to generic drug manufacturers.

British Columbia is replacing block grants to hospitals with fee-for-procedure payments and Quebec has a new flat health tax and a proposal for payments on each medical visit — an idea that critics say is an illegal user fee.

In some ways the Canadian debate is the mirror image of discussions going on in the United States.

Canada, fretting over budget strains, wants to prune its system, while the United States, worrying about an army of uninsured, aims to create a state-backed safety net.

Ontario says healthcare could eat up 70 percent of its budget in 12 years, if all these costs are left unchecked.

Mirror health care on the wrong track…The light at the end of the tunnel is an approaching health care locomotive. Maybe US should work on bringing down the costs of health care..

TACOMA, Wash. – Paulo Sergio Alfaro-Sanchez, an illegal immigrant being held at a detention center in Washington state, had no idea that the federal government would count him in the census.

No one gave him a census form. No one told him his information would be culled from the center’s records.

But counted he was, along with other illegal immigrants facing deportation in detention centers across the country — about 30,000 people on any given day, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement.

By the time the census delivers the total tallies to the state and federal government, most of the immigrants will be long gone. But because the population snapshot determines the allocation of federal dollars, those in custody could help bring money to the towns, cities and counties in Texas, Arizona, Washington and Georgia where the country’s biggest and newest facilities are located.

“I think the irony, if there’s any irony, is that the locality is what’s going to benefit, because you have a detention center in a particular city where people have been brought from different parts of the region, and that community will benefit,” said Arturo Vargas, executive director of National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, an organization that has pushed Latinos to participate in the census.

Based on the 2010 Federal Census strategy, Eye View suggests counting all people traveling in US international airports.. Count Them on the Go…Brilliant…

Next time you question your guy’s honesty, watch for these little clues to find out whether or not he’s telling the whole truth.

1) He looks up and to the left

The next time you ask him a sticky question or he wants to explain himself to you, note which way he looks. If his eyes move up to the right, he’s recalling information from his memory. If he looks up and to the left, there’s a good chance that he’s inventing the answer. If his head,eyes and tongue move to the right… he didn’t hear you, there’s a good chance he’s inventing an alibi…or is a European horn dog..

INDIANAPOLIS – Marco Andretti earned his first podium finish of the season at Sunday’s Indy 500 following an extensive video review that showed three cars illegally passed the 23-year-old under caution in the race’s final yards.

The unofficial results showed Andretti finished sixth behind winner Dario Franchitti. He was moved up to third more than two hours after the race when IndyCar officials ruled Alex Lloyd, Scott Dixon and Danica Patrick did not have the right to pass Andretti as the field strolled to the finish.

Alex Lloyd moved down one spot to fourth. Scott Dixon moved from fourth to fifth, and Danica Patrick dropped from fifth to sixth after the league nullified the passes they made after the caution flag came out on Lap 199.

Dale Coyne, who owns Lloyd’s car, argued that Andretti’s car was not maintaining speed as the field inched down the front stretch toward the finish line. Coyne said his numbers indicated Andretti had run out of gas.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, that is a new track record. As it stands now, Jean Girard is sitting on the pole, which is a statement of fact, and is in no way a comment on the driver’s sexual orientation.”

Four female news presenters at the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera satellite television channel have resigned over conflicts with management over dress code and other issues, a journalist there said on Sunday.

“This collective resignation is not motivated just by the growing pressure on the presenters concerning their dress code, which was evoked by the media,” said the journalist, who asked not to be identified.

The Al-Hayat daily reported on Sunday that they had resigned in the past few days after petitioning management in January over repeated criticism from a top company official for allegedly not being conservative enough in their dress.

The Al-Jazeera quesitoned ” why have these women, photographed drearily and insanely costumed, become full-on menopausal drag queens?” ” We haven’t seen such hilarity since the American movie “Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion.”

New home sales in Phoenix and Las Vegas, two U.S. Bubble markets hardest hit by foreclosures, are set to plunge as a federal tax credit for homebuying expires, according to data from real estate researcher Metrostudy.

A sample of subdivisions in both cities showed sales contracts for new homes “pulled back sharply in May and contract cancellations spiked,” Houston-based Metrostudy said in an e-mail. Would-be buyers canceled about 40 percent of new home contracts in San Diego in May, up from 10 percent in April, the company said. Data on new signings in that city weren’t immediately available.

Sales indicators fell after April 30, the last day for homebuyers to sign contracts in time for a federal tax credit of as much as $8,000 for first-time purchases and $6,500 for certain “move-up” buyers. The deadline may have hurried customers to snap up properties when they otherwise would have waited, said Brad Hunter, chief economist based in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, for Metrostudy.

Hunter stated that some of the more unique properties will be unaffected by the expiration of the tax break..Some of these properties are totally unaffected by changes in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ellie Mae policy..

Dear Eye View,My wife and I are expecting our first child in October. She plans to continue working after we have our baby, and she is being bombarded by people who make her feel as if she’s an unfit mother for wanting to work outside the home. For example, a lady at our church told her she would NEVER let anyone else raise her baby.Others just ask how she could possibly leave her baby with someone else. Most of these comments come from people she does not even know! My advice to her was to look at them and respond that she would NEVER make anyone feel uncomfortable that she hardly knew. How would you recommend that she deal with this?

—Concerned Husband Mississippi

Dear Mississippi

Don’t listen to those baby buttinskies..Don’t worry there are plenty of caring and compassionate baby care providers who have creative ways to take care of your little pride and joy. There are some solutions that work for every problem…The Bubba Sitter…. Hope this helps..

Bill Zwecker of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that Woods wants a lifetime confidentiality clause which would prevent his wife from writing a book or doing interviews about their marriage. Elin now wants $750 million and custody of their two children.

Radaronline.com claims the couple are no longer speaking to each other and Elin has nannies take the children to Woods. The website is also reporting that she is taking some college classes this summer.

Word on the street..

In a nutshell, Elin is taking law and accounting classes to put together a Block Buster Deal. Sweden is looking to negotiate with Elin..Elin’s nannies are looking to negotiate with Elin, Tigers mom is looking to exhume Earls bloated corpse for some posthumous ass kicking, while Woods is meeting with an advisor to determine next step..

Dear Eye View,My sister and I are both married with young children. Our mother, who lives near us, is almost 60 and has physical disabilities due to chronic pain. She is also flighty, stubborn, and tends not to make rational decisions. In recent years, she has started being a foster parent and has become very dedicated, sometimes having four high-needs children at a time. Last year she adopted one of them, “Cindy.” My sister and I were skeptical about this. Also, my mother has an affluent lifestyle. So, soon Mom will leave on a three-week European vacation with her sister. My mom wants me to take Cindy during this time. Cindy has been hospitalized for acute psychiatric care recently, and my mother has had to call the police because of Cindy’s destructive behavior and threats to herself and others. My sister refuses to help my mother, saying that she won’t enable her bad decisions. My husband has also said that he will not agree to allow Cindy to stay with us, although I think I could insist. My mother is getting resentful of my sister and me and says she will try to line up a string of people to keep Cindy for a day or two. My heart breaks for this child who is bearing the brunt of an adult’s bad decision-making, and I am feeling guilty. How I can reconcile my own family’s needs, the needs of my adopted sister, and my relationship with my mother?

—The Good Daughter/Sister/Mother/Wife

Dear GDSMF/Enabler

How did your 60- year old, severely needy nutjob mother get approved to be the adoptive parent of Cindy! You’re right, Cindy is the victim—a lifetime victim—in all this, but I understand why your husband does not want this potentially dangerous girl in your home with your own children. Tragically, your mother sounds like exactly what Cindy, and the foster children, don’t need: a do-gooder who ends up doing bad because she’s erratic and incapable. Once the buzz of doing a good thing is gone others are left to clean up the mess. If your mother wants to be paid for her altruistic impulses, it would be better if she worked at some kind of institution for troubled children, where her responsibilities would be limited. Or better check into one. Tell your “material girl” mother you will no longer help her raise her foster kids and if she has a problem tell your dumbass mother not to preach cause you’re not keeping her baby… Hope this helps. You just got an eyeful.

HBO’s Bill Maher: “I thought when we elected a black president, we were going to get a black president. You know, this [BP oil spill] is where I want a real black president. I want him in a meeting with the BP CEOs, you know, where he lifts up his shirt where you can see the gun in his pants. That’s — (in black man voice) we’ve got a ‘motherfu**ing problem here?’ Shoot somebody in the foot.”